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8. The position of the regime shows no notable change : it remains intensely
unpopular, but there is no chance of opposition so long as the Shah remains, as
he apparently does, in full possession of his health and strength. His present
position recalls Lord Curzon’s description of Nasr-ed-Din Shah:—
“ Rising early in the morning, he devotes the forenoon to audience with
his Ministers and to matters of State. The smallest detail is submitted to
him, and is not decided except upon his authority. His Ministers disavow
all initiative, and tremble at any executive authority. Imperious, diligent
and fairly just, the Shah is in his own person the sole arbiter of Persia’s
fortunes. All policy emanates from him. He supervises every department
with a curiosity that requires to be constantly appeased: and his attention
both to foreign and domestic politics is constant and unremitting. There
is a consensus of opinion in Persia that he is the most competent man in the
country, and the best ruler that it can produce. Nor will anyone deny him
the possession of patriotism and of a genuine interest in the welfare of the
nation.” (Curzon’s Persia, Ed. 1892, vol. I, p. 400.)
9. All this may justly be said of the present Shah and, unfortunately, his
Ministers still, in the main, “ disavow all initiative and tremble at any executive
authority.” The centralisation of all power, and the official dread of responsi
bility, have reached such a pass that the most trivial frontier questions—even in
a recent case the theft and recovery of a couple of donkeys—cannot be dealt
with locally but must be discussed between the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and
His Majesty’s Legation. This excessive centralisation has many drawbacks, and
among others that of making the Shah personally responsible, in the eyes of his
subjects, for every change which affects their lives. It is not surprising then
that, with the constantly increased cost of living, the persistence of “graft”
(which tends to increase with the cost of living), and the difficulty for the
ordinary Persian to lead a quiet life, the regime is, in spite of the benefits it has
conferred in many directions, in general heartily disliked.
10. The passage of another year has made it no more easy to forecast with
confidence the future of the dynasty. The Valiahd has begun to play a rather
larger, though still small, part in public affairs, and by official visits to educational
centres, patronage of boy scouts and similar activities, must be becoming rather
more widely known. Though agreeable and intelligent, he does not yet give the
impression of being well qualified to take his father’s place. Few people seem to
expect that the present system of government will long outlive its author: the
Constitution is still in being, the country is still in theory a constitutional
monarchy, and one possibility of the future may be an essay in constitutional
government. But I do not propose to burthen this report with any addition to
the long list of prophesies about the future of this country which have been made
in so many quarters in the last ten years. One thing, however, does seem certain :
the country cannot return to the conditions obtaining before the time of Reza
Shah : some aspects of modernisation, such as the unveiling of women, the cinema,
the development of outdoor games, the improved communications, the introduc
tion of schools on more or less modern lines, must affect the character of the nation.
11. The foreign policy of Iran has continued on familiar lines. It is
opportunist, but has certain identifiable features, among which is a determina
tion to insist upon equality of treatment. This attitude is easily understood
and is even praiseworthy; it does, however, in some cases, lead to a certain
unreality. One is expected, for instance, to discuss the difficulties of British
subjects in the wilder parts of the country in terms which would be more
appropriate to Hampstead. But when one has become used to this polite fiction
it is possible in many cases to enlist the sympathy of the Ministry for Foreign
Affairs in keeping abuses within bounds.
12. Another feature of Iranian policy is the improvement of relations with
the neighbouring States, though in the case of Iraq this policy has been less
clearly envisaged than in those of Turkey and Afghanistan. The main events of
1937 were in pursuance of this policy; they included the signature of a series of
treaties with Turkey, the conclusion of an Iran-Iraq frontier settlement (not yet
ratified) and the signature of the Pact of Saad-Abad between Iran, Iraq,
Afghanistan and Turkey. These agreements are dealt with more fully later in
this report: it suffices to say here that the Turkish treaties consolidated the